Broner vs Malignaggi: This One’s Personal
@AntRoss22 June 22,2013
WBA welterweight champion “Magic Man” Paulie Malignaggi and Adrien “The Problem” Broner have been on a entertaining media blitz ever since the fight was announced months ago which will take place tonight on Showtime as part of a triple-header at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Most of the words said by both men would be considered a low light on a comedy show script nevertheless its finally time for these two trash talkers to step into the squared circle over 12-rounds for the WBA welterweight title.
The 32-year old Malignaggi (32-4, 7KO) comes in with more experience, heart and his great boxing ability on his side. The Brooklyn native will be fighting just steps from where he grew up, which should be a plus for Malignaggi since Broner has never experienced a hostile crowd type of environment. The “Magic Man” is currently riding a five fight win streak since being stopped by Amir Khan (TKO11) in 2010. Malignaggi has built himself back up since then, winning three consecutive fights before challenging previously undefeated WBA champion Vyacheslav Senchenko in his hometown of Ukraine in April of last year. Nobody gave Malignaggi a shot to win that fight especially in an opponents hometown where decisions can be questionable if its ends up in the hands of the judges. Malignaggi put on a boxing clinic, cutting Senchenko in the middle rounds and ended up surprisingly stopping him in round nine to become two-time world champion. Malignaggi has been a top fighter in the junior welterweight and now welterweight divisions for years yet seems to never get the credit he deserves for one reason or another. Fans have been critical of Malignaggi, saying he has soft pillows for hands because of his low knockout ratio which is valid, although failing to look at what he has to do to pull out victories at the top level. Malignaggi is masterful boxer and one of best purest in the game which has been able to keep him on the top level for years now. His only losses have come to Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Juan Diaz (controversial decision) and Amir Khan, then later avenged the Diaz loss with an impressive unanimous decision victory in the rematch four months later. Malignaggi will bring his A-game tonight into the Barclays Center yet will it be enough to overcome the huge underdog odds.
The flashy flamboyant 23-year old Adrien Broner (26-0, 22KO) is never a lost for words. His style is a wannabe version of Floyd Mayweather without the money at this point. Now its time for Broner to back up the talking with some action inside of the ring. Broner’s resume is far from impressive, winning the vacant WBO super featherweight title against little known guy named Vicente Rodriguez whom he knocked out in three rounds. Broner defended the WBO title once, defeating Eloy Perez (KO4) whom later was popped for a positive drug test (cocaine). In events leading up to his second title defense, Broner then decided to come in a few pounds over the weight limit (130lbs) against challenger Vicente Escobedo. Broner never tried to shed off the few pounds needed to make the limit, instead vacating the title and paying Escobedo a portion of his purse so the fight could move on. Bronerended up blasting out the smaller, over-matched Escobedo in what ended up being a showcase fight. Broner began to receive credit from critics as he moved up in weight to the lightweight (135lbs) division to challenge then consensus champion Antonio DeMarco. Broner dominated from start to finish, beating DeMarco to the punch and simply outclassing him, scoring a knockdown in round eight and eventually stopping the Mexican later in the round.Broner made one defense of the WBC crown in February as he destroyed former champion Gavin Rees in five rounds.The victory over DeMarco left the lightweight division a bit bare, with Brandon Rios moving up the only real test left in the lightweight division was WBO champion Ricky Burns or IBFchampion Miguel Vasquez. Broner and his team elected not to go down that path but instead take on a different challenge moving up two weight divisions to challenge Malignaggi at welterweight. Broner has the attributes needed to beat a guy like Malignaggi, yet the Italian kid from Brooklyn will have plenty to say about it tonight. These two have been a war of words since it was signed a few months back and yet the press conferences and interviews might end up being more entertaining than the fight itself tonight. If you are looking for two guys to exchange and go toe-to-toe well you might be more interesting in the Banks-Mitchell rematch yet the Broner-Malignaggi will be a tactical fight and if Malignaggi can put some early rounds in the bank against Broner it will make the fight more interesting than the odds-makers have predicted.
The co-feature of the evening will be a rematch between Johnathon Banks (29-1-1, 19KO) and former Michigan State football standout Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (25-1-1, 19KO) in a 12-round bout for Banks NABO and WBC International heavyweight title. The first fight between the two last November was short and sweet, well sweet for Banks as he knockdown Mitchell twice in round two en route to a shocking second round TKO victory. Mitchell came out swing for the fences with wide shots as the slick minded Banks elected to box. Once the two got in a heated exchange, the right hand for Banks was landing at will and it was “Goodnight Irene” for Seth Mitchell. Mitchell has stated he has watched the tape countless times and knows what mistakes he made and is going to correct them this time around. The problem is he elected not to take a tune up fight in the meantime to test out those kinks in the armor. To his credit, Mitchell wanted to jump right back in with the Kronk Gym native in Johnathon Banks to show he is worth the buzz Golden Boy has put out there for him. Ironically Banks was a huge underdog going into the first match-up at +375 and now the Vegas odds-makers have him -135 favorite to win. Should be entertaining fight for however long it lasts.
Opening up the triple-header will be a 12-round bout for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title featuring “The Scorpion” Sakio Bika (31-5-2, 21KO) taking on undefeated Marco Antonio Periban (21-0, 13KO). Bika is coming off three straight victories since his unanimous decision loss to Andre Ward in 2010. Periban on the other hand is a unknown commodity, having fought mostly in Mexico against obscure opponents. The biggest win on his ledger comes against Francisco Sierra (Majority Decision) last November. The WBC title became vacant after Andre Ward was forced to relinquish the belt after his shoulder injury forced him to the sidelines.
Showtime Championship Boxing starts live at 9PM ET/PT. The Showtime Extreme telecast begins at 7:00PM ET/PT showing the preliminary fights featuring middleweights Julian Williams (12-0-1, 7KO) taking on veteran Joachim Alcine (33-4-1, 19KO) in an 8-round bout. Bantamweight 3-time U.S. Olympian Rau’Shee Warren (4-0, 2KO) facing Jovany Fuentes (5-1, 4KO) in a 6-round swing bout. Also undefeated Juan Dominguez (14-0, 10KO) will battle Bradley Patraw (9-5, 5KO) in a 8-round featherweight bout.
Predictions Overall Record Last Week
Broner – Split Decision 78-16 2-0
Banks – 5th Rd KO
Bika – 9th Rd KO
Williams – Decision
Warren – Decision
Dominguez – 4th Rd KO
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